Sir, I found a way to kill the Chosen!
by CO Raven
Summary: Yuan's frown faded and his lips slowly curled up in a wide smile. It was sheer genuis, simple, yet foolproof. Even Kratos wouldn't see it coming. This story is no longer a oneshot due to popular demand. Let the chaos continue.
1. Sir, I found a way to kill the Chosen!

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does.

Let's begin, eh? This one's short but funny. It takes place shortly before the betrayal at the Tower of Salvation.

--

Yuan angrily paced back and forth across his office. The Chosen was an idiot! How was it possible that all his careful planning always fell apart due to pure chance? First Kratos foiled them at the temple. That was completely out of his control and an understandable failure. Then Sheena failed three times. The last two times, it was due to Kratos again, but the first time, the Chosen had tripped on a switch that sent her plummeting down a maintenance tunnel for the Ossa Trail.

"Argh! Why would the Ossa Trail even need a maintenance tunnel?" Yuan raged as he slammed his fist down on his desk. A vase fell off a nearby pedestal and shattered. Instantly, he called for a random renegade to clean up the mess. He came in a matter of seconds. This was so frustrating. It was always Kratos, Kratos, Kratos foiling his plans. It was no use. Kratos was always on the watch for the Renegades. With so much experience, taking out the Chosen by direct assault would be difficult. If the attack force was large, he would know long ahead of time and call for reinforcements. There was a beep, signaling that a renegade was calling him. Yuan picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Sir, we failed to kill the Chosen. She tripped and-"

Yuan slammed the communicator down and smacked his head on the wall. The renegade cleaning up the vase quickened his pace. He wanted out of there as soon as possible.

"HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO KILL A STUPID LITTLE GIRL?!" Yuan thundered. It was either Kratos or a trip, a lucky trip. In his rush to leave, the renegade accidentally bumped into Yuan. He was hoisted up by the collar, the seraph glaring a hole into him.

"I-I'm terribly sorry, Sir," The renegade stuttered.

"I'm in an extremely foul mood. Give me one reason I should let you live."

Yuan looked like he was serious. It was time to improvise. The hapless renegade put on his best serious look as well.

"Sir, I've found a way to kill the Chosen!" the renegade announced, trying to buy time while he thought of a solution. It was better than being killed on the spot. Yuan tapped his foot impatiently.

"Um… I think it would be better if I showed you."

Yuan released the renegade who scrambled for the door.

"Be back in ten minutes or I'll have your head."

The renegade scrambled out and sprinted back to his quarters, looking for a solution or a place to hide. On second thought, a place to hide would do him no good. He scoured his brain. What did that file say about the Chosen? In an instant, he dashed off to the docking bay and hopped on a rheiard. He headed over to Triet, the closest town, collected the item that his life hinged on and flew back. Then he made a stop at the armory and headed for Yuan's office. Out of breath, he finally made it back. The seraph had a ball of electricity in his palm.

"You're two minutes late. Make it snappy. This had better be good."

The renegade held up his last hope for life. Yuan's stopped frowning, and a grin spread across his face. It was sheer genius, simple, yet foolproof. It was so devious, even Kratos wouldn't see it coming. In the renegade's trembling hands was a dog with a small remote explosive tied to it.

--

That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed it. I know Colette won't.


	2. The foolproof plan

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS Namco does. I also borrowed the name Orifiel from them even if he's entirely different.

Due to some popular demand, this is now a running story on the renegades and their attempts to kill Colette. At this point, Botta has gone to stop the final step at the Tower of Salvation.

--

It was scary. Yuan was smiling for the first time in... well, ever. None of the Renegades had ever seen him smile at all. In reality, the last time was 4000 years ago, shortly before Martel was murdered. With his new prized soldier by his side, he strode into the war room where all the renegade generals sat.

"Sir, what is this recruit doing here?" one of the generals asked. Yuan gave him a glare, and he shrank back into his seat.

"This is… ah," Yuan kicked himself and bent down to check the name tag, "Orifiel. He is now my top general and your leader."

Upon receiving a name, Orifiel removed his helmet and immediately went from a weakling whip master to a general with the strength to rival a grand cardinal. Though weak physically, he had studied magic and strategy from an early age. The other generals looked mortified. They were generals, and they were still nameless, only slightly stronger than the average soldier.

"Since you're now a general now, go to the armory and choose your weapon of choice. Your wardrobe is your own business," Yuan ordered as he walked out. Not wanting to stay in the same room with the other generals any longer than he had to, Orifiel scurried out and made a beeline for the armory. Once there, he was completely lost. There were thousands of kinds of weapons there to pick from. Finally, he decided on a somewhat ornate staff and went to his room, the new one he'd received upon promotion. It wasn't huge, but it was his, not his along with another nineteen people, his.

"I really hare looking like Kvar, but I really hate hand to hand combat," he muttered to himself. He passed by a mirror and got a good look at himself. Messy blonde hair did not go with a renegade's uniform, so he discarded the suit which was three sizes too small in favor of casual clothes under a buttoned white trench coat. Adding in an eyepiece, it was perfect. It was comfortable yet professional, authoritative yet friendly. Now it was time to see how to go about the plan that he had come up with to save his life. A siren blared.

"The Chosen and her group have escaped and are fighting their way to the docking bay! Stop them at all costs!" came across the intercom. Orifiel got up and ambled over to the docking bay himself. He already knew there was no way he'd make it before they left, but he could certainly have someone follow them. It was time to take a trip to the Tethe'alla base. They would most likely go there.

By the time Orifiel arrived, their spies had tracked the Chosen as far as the Fuji Mountains. From there, the only thing remotely close was Meltokio. Seeing as the reports said that Sheena had joined them, they would most likely go there and appeal for royal aid. He called for a random renegade who scurried over.

"Take this dog and plant it in Meltokio. When the Chosen goes to name it, press this switch," Orifiel explained, handing over the dog and a remote. The renegade accepted the items and left. Orifiel ambled about the base, wondering what he would do with all his free time now that idle chores were no longer part of his day. His thoughts were interrupted as a report came in, saying that the Chosen had lost her soul during the events at the Tower of Salvation, and the new target was Lloyd.

"Oh well. I guess the dog trick won't work," Orifiel mused to himself. Life was good. He'd been promoted, and he didn't even need to go after the Chosen anymore.

In Meltokio, the renegade released the dog just as the Chosen and company were walking up to the steps. Ten feet… seven feet… four feet… one foot. The renegade stabbed his thumb down on the button just as Colette punted the dog right back at him. There was an explosion, and the Chosen kept right on walking.

Meanwhile, word of Orifiel's rise in power had reached every ear across the base. The door to Yuan's office swung open. He looked up, expecting his coffee. Instead, nearly twenty renegades stood before him.

"Sir, I found a way to kill the Chosen!"

An anger mark formed on Yuan's forehead. Beep… beep… beep. He flipped open his communicator.

"Sir, we failed to kill the Chosen."

The anger mark tripled in size.

--

That's all for now, but its not over unless you guys want it to.


	3. A change of plans sort of

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does. I also stole/borrowed the name Orifiel from them too.

I hope no one minds having Orifiel around. It just didn't make sense to have Yuan doing all the work himself. He delegates instead of getting his hands dirty. Sorry if this is a bit short, but its transition. Anyway, let's move on.

--

"Sir, we failed to kill the Chosen," came the voice across the communicator. The anger mark on Yuan's forehead tripled in size.

"Out of my office, all of you! This is NOT how you get promoted! The Chosen isn't the target anymore!" Yuan thundered. Several of the renegades swore they could see lightning pouring out from their boss. They all scurried out of the room as quickly as possible, a smart decision considering the circumstances. Yuan rubbed his temples. Even Orifiel's brilliant plan had gone wrong. Of course, now Lloyd was far more important than the Chosen. Kratos would be watching him like a hawk. It was time to consult this with someone more privy to coming up with simple solutions.

Yuan headed over to Orifiel's office and immediately spotted him directing some movers. Apparently, he had ordered a La-z-boy and a comfy king size bed. Oh well, good generals needed to be accommodated.

"Orifiel, our new goal is to get Lloyd, not the Chosen. Figure out how and get it done," Yuan ordered. He turned to walk out and stopped short as he got an answer back before he'd even taken a step.

"Sir, it is likely that Kratos will be watching Lloyd, so capturing him will be difficult. We can merely track and capture the Chosen. As long as we don't attack her, she won't resist. Lloyd will come to us, and we can organize a trade of sorts or possibly negotiate an alliance for a common goal," Orifiel explained. In truth, he'd been thinking this out since he had gotten the memo nearly an hour ago. Yuan was quite impressed with the way that man thought. It meant fewer headaches for him and more success for the Renegades. The renegades who were moving the new furniture in finished and left.

With a renewed grin on his face, Yuan strolled back to his office. He sat down and poured himself some coffee. Life was good. Even if chance had thwarted Orifiel's brilliant plan, his new favorite general was sure to come up with more. It was unfortunate that such intellect had been wasted as a whip master for years, but late was better than never. Such genius would surely catch the Chosen sooner or later, probably sooner. He typed up a memo on the change of plans. Yuan took a long drink and let out an evil laugh.

Knock… knock… knock… KNOCK!!

Yuan stopped and pressed a button on his desk. The door slid open, and several renegades rushed in, saluting. Being the boss felt good, especially delegating. Yuan refilled his cup and took another long sip. Then, in unison…

"Sir, I found a way to capture the Chosen!"

Coffee spewed out, drenching the renegades and staining the rug. Yuan smacked his head on the desk.

--

As I said, the target shall still be Colette.


	4. Failure has never been so pleasing

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does. I borrowed Orifiel's name from them too.

It seems like no one minds having Orifiel around. That's nice to know.

--

"Sir, I found a way to capture the Chosen!"

Coffee spewed out, drenching the renegades and staining the rug. Yuan smacked his head on the desk. How was it that this idiocy kept repeating itself? Reaching for the nearest box, he hurled it at the renegades.

"Write your proposals down and put them in the box!"

With that, all the renegades were booted out of the room with the box right behind them. Then it was back to massaging the temples. Wait! They had Zelos! Yuan picked up his communicator and began to dial. After a short conversation, he sat back. Botta would deal with the rest. It would be best to leave Orifiel to his own plans until after everything was set up. Unfortunately, things were advancing much faster than he had expected. They weren't moving ahead of the game. They were trying to catch up.

Up atop Mount Fooji, several renegades paced about, searching for a place to put the device given to them by the tech department. Apparently, it was supposed to trap the Chosen and her group or something. The renegade holding the large disc shaped device stopped and placed it on the ground in the middle of the plateau. The other two whacked him in the head.

"Are you stupid?!" one of them began, "An idiot would spot it from a mile away. At least put it behind a rock or something so it can't be seen."

"Yeah, if we botch this up, Lord Yuan will have our heads," the third renegade added.

The first renegade refused to budge.

"In order to get them all, it has to be really close. That's what the tech guys said."

"If it's that limited, why even bother giving us the stupid thing? This'll never work," the second renegade sighed. Footsteps were heard, and the renegades scattered. The Chosen and her group were coming for the rheiards. Zelos beckoned them over, and they stepped right in. A barrier shot up, trapping all but Colette who wouldn't do anything anyway unless someone attacked her. The renegades silently cheered. Maybe they'd all be generals now. There was a flash, and Yuan appeared, a smug smile on his face.

"Ah, you fell for our trap."

The smile was wiped off as he felt a tint of dark mana. An anger mark grew on his head. Mithos' pet stalker was here.

"Lord Yuan, what are you doing here?" came the voice of Pronyma.

"I could ask you the same, Pronyma," Yuan replied in an icy tone. He was visibly irritated that he was being interrupted.

"Lord Yggdrasil had ordered me to bring the Chosen to him. Please hand her over."

"Fine. But in exchange for handing over the Chosen, I'm taking custody of Lloyd."

Instantly, Yuan regretted saying that. He might have given himself away. Now all he could count on was-

"I have no objections. I received no orders in regards to him."

Pronyma's stupidity. This time it really saved his butt. Pronyma moved forward and noticed the necklace that Colette was wearing. Making some snide remark, she attempted to remove it. To everyone's surprise. Colette's eyes shifted from red to blue as she grabbed the offending hand and hurled Pronyma into a nearby rock. Then not so much to everyone's surprise, Colette tripped while standing still and broke the device holding the rest of the group. The barrier went down, and a cheesy exchange between Colette and Lloyd ensued. Yuan plugged his ears and started humming really loud.

"Insolent brats!" Pronyma screeched as she charged straight ahead. The renegades hiding felt a tap on the shoulder. They turned to see Orifiel.

"Do you want to get promoted?" he asked kindly.

All three nodded, and they were handed a small device.

"This is called a camcorder. Press play and point it at Pronyma for the duration of the fight."

With that, Orifiel teleported away. The renegades happily did as they were told. Pronyma was severely beaten into the ground. While she was still dazed from a Thunder Blade, Yuan walked over and "accidentally" kicked her off Mt. Fooji. Then he turned to Lloyd. Just before a fight could begin, Kratos teleported in between and knocked Lloyd onto his butt.

"Yuan, we will leave the Chosen. She is useless to us for now. Yggdrasil summons us."

"I see."

Yuan brought out his wings, and the two flew away. The renegades hiding behind the rocks snuck away quietly.

Soon, the three were back at the base, basking in their success. Yuan came back from his meeting extremely angry. Right before he could take it out on them, he was presented with the camcorder. A wide smile spread across his face once more. Then he took a quick glance at the name tags.

"You will all be promoted to the rank of general, under Orifiel. Now you will be called Kojiro, Shinobu, and Engetsu."

"Yes! We're not nameless renegades anymore!" the three cheered. Yuan didn't really care. He had other business.

Now he was glad that the idiot called Forcystus had somehow saved the rest of the grand cardinals, even Kvar. This was going to live in his room… right after it was mass produced and sent to EVERY SINGLE HUMAN RANCH… namely the Iselia and Remote Island ranches since that's all that was left.

--

Yeah… Sorry for the wait. I had summer school rush. None of my fics are dead. Thanks for waiting.


	5. Joining the hunt

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does. I borrowed Orifiel's name from them too. Kojiro, Shinobu, and Engetsu are mine… but two were litetally made up over the course of ten seconds.

--

Three months had passed since the Mount Fooji incident. Both worlds were in utter chaos, and for ocnce, hardly any of it had anything to do with the Chosen's regeneration group. Desians and Renegades alike had formed an anit-Pronyma coalition. Rodyle, Kvar, and Magnius were in on it since each wanted to be the leader of the cardinals. It didn't take much to see that none of them had a real shot at it until Pronyma was gone. How did they do that? Well, that's why everyone was in the Altimara Hotel right now.

Forcystus, Rodyle, Kvar, and Magnius sat on one side of the table while yuan sat on the other.

"So why are we here again?" Magnius asked. Kvar whacked him in the head with his staff.

"We're here because we hate Pronyma."

"So, Lord Yuan, why did you call this meeting? You usually don't concern yourself with such trivial things," Forcystus asked. Yuan waited for a moment, thinking of the best way to answer.

"He's the leader of those pesky Renegades, or so I hear," Rodyle piped up. Forcystus was on his feet in an instant, pointing his arm cannon at his superior. Yuan snapped his fingers, and Orifiel, Kojiro, Shinobu, and Engetsu entered the room, all decked out in general attire. Kojiro had gone with standard mizuho style dress with a katana. Shinobu had a compound bow and a light blie sword to match his flashy white mercenary gear. Engetsu was quite the opposite with his long dark hair, black cloak and sunglasses. Of course, he was just as dangerous as the other two with the spear he always carried around with him. The Renegade generals took seats on Yuan's side of the table.

"If you don't want to be a part of this, you can leave but you really out to hear me out first," Yuan advised. The arm cannon was reluctantly lowered.

"Now, we may be enemies, but we have a common goal. We hate Pronyma. Three of you want her position and one of you can't stand her because she kisses up so much," There was silence, "Okay, all of us hate how she kisses up so much."

"What's there to talk about?! Let's just cut her head off!" Magniusthundered, waving his axe around.

"She's always kissing Lord Yggdrasil's feet. You'd probably cut him accidentally too," Forcystus refuted. Everyone stared at him. Did Forcystus the Stiff just make a joke?

"Anyway, just killing her would be self destructive for at least us cardinals," Rodyle said, breaking the silence.

"you guys are making this harder than it is. She's your superior officer and is thus responsible for everything that you do. Just mess up," Orifiel suggested. Everyone thought about it for a second. If they could make messing up the Church of Martel part of their duties, it would throw the entire Chosen system into chaos. Pronyma would be sent down to deal with the problem and could be "killed by the Renegades" in battle. Forcystus opened his mouth to object. Messing up Yggdrasil's plans was not on his agenda. Yuan saw this coming.

"Forcystus, what if I told you that Pronyma already knew I was the head of the Renegades but didn't say anything because I promised to help make her look good in front of Yggdrasil?"

Forcystus' mouth snapped shut. He thought about it for a second.

"I have one condition. I want the angelus project." Forcystus said.

"Now hold it-" Kvar protested. No one was getting the angelus project except him.

"Kvar, you can have the Chosen's cruxis crystal. Rodyle can reclaim his project at the same time. Will that work for you?" Yuan offered.

Grumbling a bit, Kvar sat back down. A full cruxis crystal was probably just as good even though he really wanted his project back. Everyone looked at Forcystus again to see if he had any other complaints. Orifiel tipped the scale.

"It'll show the power of the half elves."

That did it.

"Where do you want my forces and when?"

Yuan smirked. They were about to turn the worlds upside down. Of course, Llyod was far out of reach with Kratos watching him like a hawk. It seemed like they were back after the Chosen… again.

--

Three days later…

"Don't worry, my sister. It won't be long-"

Pronyma rushed in, completely flustered. Yggdral turned and glared holes into her for interrupting his morning rant.

"You dare interrupt my time with my sister?!" he fumed. Pronyma shrunk back.

"Lord Yggdrasil, the Renegades have launched a full assault on Forcystus' ranch."

"Forcystus will take care of it. He has a whole ranch while the Renegades are few in number," Yggdrasil shrugged.

"Sir, they have five generals and an entire army," Pronyma protested. That got his attention. In less than a minute, she was off to the Iselia Ranch with an entire leigon of angels. By the time she got there, the fight had moved inside the ranch. Botta was making a fool of Magnius. Shinobu and Forcystus were having a fruitless fight that only served to kill anyone who got close. Kojiro was attempting to cut down all of Rodyle's illusions, and Engetsu was busy dodging Kvar's lightning. Pronyma quickly did a count. The reports had said five generals, and why were Kvar and Magnius alive? They had supposedly died when their ranches went down. By sheer numbers, the Renegade army was pushing through. Pronyma ordered an attack. There was a flash, and everyone in the ranch was gone. She quickly hurried back, not realizing what had just happened. The fight hadn't stopped. It had simply moved… right outside Meltokio. As far as the Church of Martel and the pope saw it, the desians had come and Tethe'alla was in decline. So came a shout from the pope's office.

"The first one who kills the Chosen becomes a Cardinal!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Which Chosen, Your Emmenence?" one of the underlings asked.

"Both of them!"

Several people outside the church rushed in.

"Your Emmenence, I found a way to kill the Chosens!"

--

Sorry for not updating… College has left me extremely busy. I promise I'll update my stuff soon. I'm not dead.


	6. Payback time

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

Yay. I'm kind of back. Things got busy so I haven't had time to update.

--

The pope crumpled up a piece of paper and threw it into the trash. He had idiots working for him. It seemed that each plan was more pathetic than the last. It was so infuriating, just like the last time when he had hired that duke to kill the Chosen. Instead he joined them, adding one more obstacle to his goal of total control of the Church of Martel. On top of that, his top assassin resource, Mizuho, was also against him.

"How hard can it be to kill a perverted simpleton and a clumsy ditz?!" the pope lamented. Annoyed by the stupidity of his men, he decided on using brute force. The papal knights had sent them running last time and he could have Kuchinawa take the Chosens out during the fight. Quickly he wrote up a message to send to the public.

Within days, news spread all over Tethe'alla. The Church of Martel had confirmed the rumor of Sylvarant after being very quiet about it for the longest of time. In addition, the Chosen had helped Sylvarant's Chosen complete the ritual and send Tethe'alla into decline. The Desians have come and now it was necessary to hunt down the Chosen and eliminate him so the title could pass to Seles and she could complete the journey in his stead. Rumors were spread that killing Sylvarant's Chosen might help as well. Lastly, anyone who eliminated either one would be anointed by the pope himself.

Yuan looked over the report with a smirk. The pope had already caused a massive uproar that would turn the world against the Chosen, saving him the trouble of convincing him to do it. On top of that, he had managed to make the story reasonably believable. That certainly deserved a round of applause. This was the pope after all. Now it was time to go and see how things were progressing. Perhaps in a week or so he could see the fruits of this plan.

--

"Argh! I can't believe this! I haven't had a shower in over a week now! I need to look pretty for the ladies!"

"Give it a rest, Zelos. We all want showers," Sheena groaned. For eight days now, they hadn't gone to an inn even once. Every time they tried, they were turned down or refused service. The same went for the stores so they couldn't buy food. Zelos had tried flirting. Lloyd had tried complaining. Both had failed. So now it was Raine's turn. Her tactic? Bribery. As a result, they were standing at the front desk of the inn in Meltokio, asking for four rooms. As usual, they got the same initial response.

"I'm sorry but we are going to have to refuse you service. I don't want to be excommunicated," the innkeeper apologized.

"The Church of Martel is a scam as is the Chosen's ritual on a whole. We're trying to fix the system," Raine said as she pushed 50,000 gold across the counter. The man stared at the money.

"Are you really telling the truth here?" he asked.

"Every word."

Raine spun on her heel and came face to face with Yuan. He ignored her, walked up to the front desk, and dropped a large sack of gold onto the counter.

"I would like to rent some rooms for some business partners," Yuan explained. The innkeeper's eyes went wide. Zelos jumped for joy and hugged the seraph.

"My partners are outside. I'm renting every room there is available."

The innkeeper handed a box of keys over to Yuan, and then he happily pranced off with his earnings. Everyone glared as the guests filed in. Kvar, Magnius, and Rodyle were laughing their heads off. Raine glared as the entire Desian army filed in and filled up the rooms.

"Don't panic," Raine said, "There's another inn in Meltokio. Yuan leaned back in a chair any yawned.

"That one is filled up with my Renegades," he said with a smirk as he ambled off to his room.

"Why are you working with the Desians when you're the leader of the Renegades?" Zelos asked.

"We reached an agreement and I defer all questions to my top general, Orifiel," Yuan answered. Orifiel walked over and took his place in the chair.

"Why are the Desians in Tethe'alla when they should be in Sylvarant?" Sheena asked.

"It's because we all hate Pronyma and this is going to get Yggy mad at her," Orifiel replied.

"Why are Magnius, Kvar, Rodyle, and Forcystus even alive? We killed them." Genis asked.

"They never died. Forcystus saved them," Orifiel answered simply.

"How is it that I now hate Yuan more than I did already?" Lloyd asked.

"He works at it," the answer came back, "Oh, and we mowed down Mizuho on the way here so good luck resting there."

Eyebrows twitched and anger marks formed.

"Now you know what I feel like when every single perfect plan goes wrong!" Yuan called from his room.

"What about the dog? Is he okay?" Colette asked. Everyone in the room sweatdropped.

--

(flashback)

"Burn Mizuho! We can't allow the Chosen's group to rest here!" Yuan ordered. Within minutes, the village was in flames and its citizens scattered. Yuan felt something nudge his boot. He looked down and saw a dog. An evil smile grew on his face.

"I'm going to make the Chosen suffer!" Yuan announced, laughing maniacally.

"Sir?" one of the Renegades asked.

"I CALL UPON THE LAND OF THE DEAD! UNLEASH THY FURY OF THUNDER! INDIGNATION!!!"

--

"Here's the dog," Orifiel said as he tossed them a doggie bag with a few ashes in it. Colette ran out in tears.

"That was kind of harsh, man," Zelos said.

"That's literally what happened," Orifiel said as he got up and walked to the lounge

--

At a table sat Yuan, the Renegade generals, and the Desian grand cardinals, minus Pronyma. Yuan sipped his coffee. Life was good. Orifiel walked in and sat down.

"What took you so long?" Kvar asked.

"I gave her the dog from Mizuho," Orifiel answered. Kvar blinked for a second, taking a moment to get the point.

"I think you're even more sadistic than me," he laughed. Soon everyone joined in.

"This feels good. I don't think I've really enjoyed a cup of coffee for months now," Yuan laughed as he took a long drink.

"I couldn't agree more," Kvar nodded as he sipped his wine.

There was a knock at the door.

"Enter," Yuan said.

A random Desian entered.

"Sirs, I found a way to kill the Chosen!"

The grand cardinals looked at the Renegades. The Renegades looked back. They all smiled.

"I don't think that will be necessary at the moment. Torturing them like this is so much more… enjoyable." Yuan laughed as he happily poured himself another cup of coffee. Laughing as well, the cardinals and generals could only agree.

--

Chapter done. So the story moves on but it's not over yet. Don't kill me, anti animal cruelty activists. No dogs were harmed in the writing of this chapter.


	7. Plotting the purge

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

I should be working on some of my other neglected stories at the moment but unfortunately, my main computer with the partly finished chapters is being fixed so I'm updating the other stories. As a result, this one is going to see more updates for a bit.

--

A few days had passed since the incident at the Meltokio inn. A meeting had been called by Yggdrasil for the grand cardinals and the seraphim to discuss how to deal with the chaos breaking loose across Tethe'alla. For once, Yuan was smiling as he walked in to join what would normally be classified as a "meeting from hell." Walking past Kratos the stiff, he took a seat. Eyes certainly widened as several supposedly dead Desian grand cardinals walked into the room.

"Traitor! How are you still alive?!" Pronyma screeched, pointing emphatically at Rodyle. Kratos cocked an eyebrow, trying to piece things together. He had known that Forcystus had saved Magnius but he was also sure that he had maimed Kvar sufficiently. Rodyle should have been dead too since Pronyma had been bragging for the last month or so non stop that she had rooted out a traitor that the Four Seraphim were unaware of. In truth, all three active seraphim had known for ages. No one could really speak for Martel but she probably knew too.

"The Chosen's group only killed an illusion. I saved him," Forcystus said bluntly. Yggdrasil sat up in his chair, interested now. He had been sure that Rodyle was a traitor yet Forcystus had saved him. This particular cardinal was his favorite. A combination of the good points of all the other cardinals, he was fairly smart unlike Magnius. He was loyal unlike Kvar and Rodyle. He wasn't annoying unlike Pronyma. He was a near perfect subordinate. So was Rodyle really a traitor or not?

"I destabilized the cruxis crystal he wanted to use to take control. Forcystus is a battle oriented cardinal without the knowledge of how to stop the breakdown," Pronyma said smugly. Forcystus shifted in his chair uncomfortably. No one had expected Pronyma to ask something remotely intelligent. There was a pause.

"Well?" Yggdrasil asked.

"Forcystus brought Rodyle to me, knowing that he couldn't fix the problem. I've had my doubts about Rodyle as well but Forcystus is extremely loyal. If he wanted Rodyle saved, I figured it must have been for a good reason so I complied," Yuan explained. Pronyma opened her mouth to argue. To everyone's surprise, Kratos spoke up.

"I think we have established that at least for now, Rodyle is in the clear," he cut her off. Pronyma flopped back into her seat with a huff.

"They're all conspiring against me," she grumbled.

"Think about what you say before it leaves your mouth. You're saying that Forcystus, Rodyle, and Yuan are working together," Kratos spat. In reality, he figured the three were working together and that Kvar and Magnius were most likely in on it too but he hated Pronyma more than he hated Rodyle. A feeling of deep satisfaction ran through him as Pronyma shrank back. It was similar to the feeling he got when he ripped his sword out of Kvar's chest.

"Now that this is resolved, let's move on to what to do about our little Renegade problem," Yggdrasil said.

"Let's just smash the vermin!" Magnius suggested, slamming his fist on the table.

"Let the Renegades cause havoc. Let's use this to purge the world of inferior races," Forcystus threw out there.

"That's a waste. Throw them in the ranches," Rodyle argued.

"Perhaps I could find a suitable host to continue the Angelus Project," Kvar added.

"Why don't you drop that project before you find Flamberge sticking out of your chest?" Kratos glared. No one was going to argue.

"Perhaps a legion of angels putting down the Renegades would solve the problem," Pronyma offered hopefully. It was well known that Pronyma wanted desperately to move up from the top grand cardinal to the fourth seraphim spot. She simply didn't understand that the fourth seraphim was Martel and always would be Martel, no questions asked. That was just how things worked in Cruxis. Of course, she never understood that. Even Yuan and Kratos face palmed whenever Pronyma tried flirting with Yggdrasil. Most suspected but never had proof but both had known him for long enough to have proof of his... orientation.

"Very well. Take a legion of angels down to Tethe'alla and destroy the Renegades. Don't mobilize the Desian troops so as to decrease the panic," Yggdrasil ordered as he dismissed them all. Everyone filed out of the room. On his way out, Yuan felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Yes?" Yuan asked, turning around. As he expected, it was Kratos.

"I don't know how you did it but I want in," he put it bluntly. Yuan smiled, slung his arm around his old friend's shoulder and walked him out. There was much to discuss…

--

Lloyd's stomach rumbled. With every shop refusing them service they had been stuck relying entirely on Presea's odd ability to find food randomly after battles. Every one was rather skeptical about whether it was safe to eat or not but without a good alternative, they were stuck with it whether they liked it or not.

"We've been wandering around for ages and we haven't found a place to stop," Lloyd whined.

"I know. My face feels so dirty…" Zelos complained. He was ignored.

"I think the Renegades missed a place we could stop. It's not much but its better than nothing," Raine murmured.

--

Kratos entered the meeting room in Rodyle's Remote Island Ranch where the Renegade generals and Desian grand cardinals met. It was odd. They looked so… normal. Kvar was going crazy because he lost to Orifiel in yet another game of chess. Rodyle was lamely trying to help his fellow grand cardinal. Shinobu was sparring with Magnius in the training grounds in the next room. Engetsu was sleeping in a comfy chair. That was fairly normal, right? Well, maybe not Yuan and Forcystus discussing purges but the rest was certainly normal.

"Ah, Kratos. Nice of you to join us," Yuan greeted. Kratos nodded and glanced over the outrageous purge plans.

"Purging the humans would kill the Chosen but it would also kill my son so I'll have to disagree," Kratos laid out. The idea was quickly tossed out the widow and that plan burned.

"What would you suggest?" Yuan asked, "You spent the longest time with the Chosen so you should know how to make her suffer."

"We're going to burn down Altessa's house since you missed it in your rest stop purge, then we're going to do a different kind of purge…"

A blood red aura seemed to surround Kratos as a sadistic smile crept its way across his face.

--

Lloyd's group exited the Gaoracchia Forest, coming out on the Ozette side. Five feet from them stood Yuan, the Renegade generals, and four Desian grand cardinals.

"They knew we were coming," Raine murmured.

"Of course we knew. So we burned Altessa's house and sent him to Sylvarant where he'll be out of the way. Now we're going to beat you down," Yuan said simply.

"We've beaten all of you so just go away," Genis replied, shooing them away with his hand.

"You beat most of them when you had a four on one advantage," Orifiel pointed out, "There are four grand cardinals, four renegade generals, and one seraph here, so it would be nine against eight. You're about to see what happens when these people actually work together."

"I'll just sit this one out so don't worry about being at a numerical disadvantage," Botta assured.

Each leader on the Desian/Renegade side had already picked out a target back at the meeting. Without hesitation, they rushed. Kvar dashed over at Lloyd, deploying his energy stones. Orifiel ran at Genis who started casting desperately. Shinobu locked swords with Zelos. Engetsu started an attack on Raine. Magnius brought his axe down on Presea. Rodyle cast Gravity Well on Regal. Surprisingly, Yuan attacked Sheena, leaving Colette for Forcystus. As war broke loose, all the lackeys shrank back.

Kvar swung his staff, summoning lightning bolts down on Lloyd who blocked it with Guardian. Without missing a beat, he ordered his energy stones to attack in intervals so it couldn't all be defended. Lloyd pushed through with a quick Tiger Blade only to receive a Thunder Blade to the face.

Orifiel casually interrupted Genis' spell with a smack from his staff. This was pathetically easy. While the short little mage might be useful in uneven battles, interrupting him was simple in a one on one fight and the kid could fight hand to hand if his life depended on it. Plus he had boss class casting speed.

"Indignation," Orifiel called out almost bored as he fried the small mage.

Shinobu and Zelos danced around, showing off their magic sword techs, neither gaining any ground. Both knew that Shinobu would win eventually with his boss status but that was so far off that neither really cared at the moment.

There was really nothing to say about Engetsu and Raine's fight. A certain healer was passed out on the ground due to a lack of offensive and defensive capability. She belonged in the back as a support member, not in the front lines brawling with a melee expert.

Magnius and Presea were fighting to a draw as well. The large grand cardinal couldn't understand how a little girl half as tall as him was matching him blow for blow in both power and endurance. It was baffling, just as baffling as to how she was still standing after what seemed like a million hits. Oh well. There was nothing to do but keep hacking away. Raising his axe once more he let out his trademark battle cry.

"Vermin!!!"

Most of the troops sweatdropped.

Meanwhile, Regal and Rodyle weren't getting anywhere either. The convict just kept on dodging the ground spells that the grand cardinal cast yet couldn't hit back against the multitude of illusions. Both were getting somewhat irritated at this point.

Yuan toyed around with Sheena a bit. His goal wasn't to kill, though some might have disagreed as his double saber ripped apart the scenery with yet another Thunder Explosion. Sheena found out all too quickly that her cards were for the most part ineffective against an enemy like this. Yuan's double saber was extremely heavy and thus resulted in a circle of death for everything within the seraph's reach. His angel strength completely negated any lag he might have due to using such a bulky weapon. With a quick Thunder Blade, Yuan knocked Sheena off her feet. Reaching into her pocket, he retrieved what he wanted and backed up. Of course he also managed to earn himself a red hand shaped mark on the side of his face.

Forcystus' fight with Colette was long over. It went from a fight to a slaughter from the moment Colette had tried to throw her chakrams in the middle of a cyclone. They landed in the lake not too far away but Colette was left completely unarmed. Normally throwing hammers and such would have sufficed against a normal opponent but Forcystus just sat back and kept firing away with his cannon arm. The hammers never even came close.

"We got it! Let's go!" Yuan called. All fighting stopped. In less than thirty seconds, there was no trace of the Desians or the Renegades.

"What was that about?" Lloyd asked to no one in particular.

--

Back in the Remote Island Ranch, the grand cardinals were chewing Yuan out.

"We had them! We could have killed them! Why did you have us retreat?!" Kvar raged. Taking a sip of his coffee, Yuan fished his stolen good out of his pocket. There were two rings. More specifically, they were the Aquamarine and the Sardonyx.

"You stole some pact rings?" Rodyle asked.

"Without Undine they can't travel by sea and without Volt they can't recharge the rheiards. They're stranded," Kvar said in understanding.

"Now we move onto the purge plan to give the Chosen true misery," Yuan said. Everyone leaned in to listen.

"We're going to have a purge."

Forcystus pumped a fist. Kvar rolled his eyes.

"We're not purging the humans," Yuan said, causing Forcystus to deflate a bit, "We're going to purge the world of puppies."

Soon the room was filled with evil laughter. Kvar recovered first.

"We should do this more often but we're going to run out of stuff to do soon," he commented. The others nodded in agreement.

"I already took care of it by revising what we did last time," Orifiel said. He walked out and came back with one of the old suggestion boxes. The word kill had been crossed out and the word torture had been written under it in red marker. The room was filled with evil laughter again until the door burst open. Several Renegades and Desians ran in.

"Sirs! I found a way to torture the Chosen!"

--

And yet another chapter is now done. The chaos continues.


	8. The Chosen strikes back

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

Let the mass insanity continue. It's a bit short and doesn't stand on its own as well as some of the others but I promise that's because it's mostly setup for the next chapter.

--

Several days had passed since the party. Almost everyone was totally smashed. The room was in shambles. Magnius and Shinobu had utterly destroyed the training room. Kvar was curled up on the floor, giggling uncontrollably. Yuan and Forcystus were drawing on the walls and cackling like madmen. Engetsu had passed out on the couch. Rodyle was in the control room, pressing random buttons. Orifiel, the only one even remotely sober, was saving them all. Why? It was because Rodyle had accidentally started the ranch self destruct sequence. With a few button presses, Orifiel aborted the self destruct and shut down the main computer so as to avoid such disasters until everyone was sober again. Kratos poked his head in and looked around.

"It seems as though this party went a bit too far," Kratos commented. Orifiel just nodded. Shrugging, Kratos dropped off a large stack of papers on the desk and walked over to Yuan.

"What are you doing?" Orifiel asked.

"I'm repaying some debts," Kratos replied smoothly as he yanked off Yuan's cape and teleported away to go slip it in the Chosen's belongings. Yuan curled up into a ball, shivering and feeling around for his cape. If Orifiel was good at anything, he was good at staying out of trouble. That was why he turned around immediately and made a beeline for the guest room he was staying in. The further away he was from the imminent explosion, the better. Sure enough, within minutes, Yuan was completely sober and only suffering from a massive hangover.

"WHERE IS MY CAPE?!?!"

Okay. And maybe from withdrawal as well.

It only took minutes for Yuan to piece things together. One thing was understood all too well. His cape was stolen and only one teleportation out of the ranch had occurred recently. That teleportation was to the exact spot where he had left the Chosen. Enraged, he ordered the mobilization of his military forces.

--

Yuan and his army touched down near Ozette where the Chosen's group had put up camp and were lamely attempting to restock on food with only Presea's abilities.

"Fork over the cape!" Yuan shouted, jabbing a finger in the Chosen's direction. He received blank stares.

"Um… Mr. Yuan, we don't know where your cape is," Colette replied innocently.

"Lies! I tracked it here! I know one of you has it! If I don't get my cape within the next minute, I'll burn every puppy in both worlds!" Yuan thundered.

"How could you even think of burning puppies?" Colette asked, tearing up. Yuan scratched his head. The Chosen had a point.

"You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. I wouldn't burn them. That's what Kratos does. I'll electrocute them!" Yuan corrected himself, laughing wildly.

"Holy Judgment!"

Yuan turned around to see half his army decimated.

"Angel Feathers!"

A pair of chakrams sliced into Yuan's side.

"I'll kill you and save the puppies!" Colette screeched as she hurled her chakrams again. Before he could take any more damage, Yuan teleported back to the Remote Island Ranch to regroup.

--

The grand cardinals stared at Yuan as he returned to base. Orifiel got busy patching him up as he explained what had happened. Most were stunned that the Chosen actually had killing intent.

"What do you suggest we do to fix your little mess?" Kvar asked.

Yuan stood up with an evil glow in his eyes.

"If she wants to play that way, fine. We're not going to back down. We're going to wipe out every dog in both worlds. We'll break her. In the meantime-"

Several renegades busted in the door.

"Sir! We found a way to stop the Chosen!"

Orifiel shrugged.

"I figured this would happen so I gave the men a head start."

--


	9. Stopping the Chosen

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.

Yes. I figured it would be better to split this chapter with the last just for theme purposes.

--

Before long, chaos had spread all across Tethe'alla, even more than before. Puppies everywhere were being rounded up and occasionally, an angel would take a large chunk out of a city. The public had no idea why. During this time, many assumed it was due to their sins and hundreds of thousands turned to Martel.

Meanwhile, Yuan was scouring his mind to think of some way to stop the Chosen's rampage. He'd taken up the challenge of exterminating all the dogs but what if that didn't stop the Chosen? What if she just permanently lost it and he had to come up with a more forceful solution? An army wouldn't help. Holy Judgment would wipe it out quickly. If it came down to a duel, she had a fully grown cruxis crystal, basically the power of a seraph so a battle would expose him as leader of the Renegades. It wasn't like he could claim that it was for Yggdrasil. The little brat was probably watching the Chosen go on a rampage to amuse himself.

"Perhaps Orifiel has made some progress…" Yuan hoped as he made his way into his top general's office. As usual, Orifiel was just tapping the desk, staring off into space. Then again, that was how he worked.

"Anything?" Yuan asked. Orifiel shook his head. The Chosen's mass use of her full destructive capabilities made things so difficult.

"I can't think of anything. I don't have enough information to work with. Maybe Kratos could come up with something better."

--

Across the world, Kratos was already at work.

"Thunder Blade!" Kratos called out as he fired his spell at the airborne Colette to get her attention. It was blocked with a quick Damage Guard. Taking the pause, Kratos pulled a small object out of his pocket, waved it around in the sun, and then sped off.

"Come back! I want Shiny!" Colette called out as she gave chase. Being much older and used to flight, Kratos easily outpaced the Chosen. Glancing back, he dodged a Dual Ray Thrust, then Angel Feathers. Seeing the Chosen so violent felt rather odd but it wasn't like that mattered. He was going to accomplish many long time goals today.

"Where is she?" Kratos asked in an annoyed tone as he sped across Tethe'alla. Some things seemed to love showing up when they weren't wanted but when they were they were ever so hard to find. Such was his usually horrible luck. Passing by Remote Island Ranch, he spotted Pronyma trying to peek in the glass roof no doubt in an attempt to prove Rodyle a traitor. Great. Now he could only hope all went as well as he planned. After taking a deep breath in mental preparation for an action that would scar him for life, he dived down. Pronyma spun around, realizing that she'd been caught. Her eyes widened at the sight of Kratos. He usually avoided her like the plague… and was he smiling? This was seriously creepy.

"Pronyma! Buddy! How's it going? Have you rooted out Rodyle yet?" Kratos greeted in an overly happy manner as he slung his arm around Pronyma. The grand cardinal flinched, a mortified look on her face. Pronyma's eyes darted up, locking onto the rapidly approaching Chosen. Somehow she seemed different.

"Give me Shiny!" Colette demanded, pointing at Kratos. The seraph held up his hands, showing that he had nothing. It was then that Colette noticed her shiny prize attached to Pronyma's arm.

"Give me Shiny now!" Colette demanded once more, this time pointing at Pronyma.

A very confused Pronyma looked at the Chosen, then over at the object attached to her arm.

"What is this thing?" she asked.

"Give me Shiny!" Colette ordered again, with now visibly increasing in anger. Scoffing, Pronyma threw the offending object to the ground and stepped on it. She had no intention of giving the Chosen what she wanted, no matter now insignificant or inconsequential. Colette just stopped, staring, then shook with rage.

"You were mean to Shiny!!!" Colette thundered as she charged the cardinal. With a far less attune sense of danger, Pronyma laughed and started to cast.

"Agarazium!" Pronyma called out, intent on crushing the Chosen. Her eyes widened as the Chosen rushed her, the spell shrugged off as though it hadn't even happened.

"O holy one, cast thy purifying light upon this corrupt soul! Light of- Ah!" Colette squealed as she tripped. She crashed into Pronyma, sending the grand cardinal through the glass dome and shattering her armor. Both crashed twenty floors to the ground. Colette looked around, seeing hundreds of cages with dogs.

"Mr. Yuan! You didn't really kill them!" Colette cheered as she hugged the leader of the Renegades. He was hardly amused. Kratos smiled, his job complete. He heard a groan below and looked down. Yuan had apparently been crushed in the landing instead of just being in the room to see the success. Oh well. More icing on the cake. Below, he heard the usual cries of "Sir, I found a way to stop the Chosen!" Needless to say, all had gone well. The Chosen was normal again. Pronyma had been punished. He had finally gotten Yuan back for all the times he'd called him Kratsy in the old days. Now it was time to go prepare… for the annual Cruxis Christmas Party. He had allowed Remiel to be saved by some generic angels just for this. This year was going to be fun.

--

It's a little short but there will probably be another update later today as well. I'm sure you can all guess what the topic will be.


	10. Deck the Halls

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

Now it is time for… the Cruxis Christmas Party!

--

All had cooled down as much as was possible. The holidays had set in and it almost seemed as though the massive war was taking a break. Decorations were strewn all over Welgaia, Derris Kharlan, and Vinheim. The angels were lifeless shells so they couldn't really enjoy it but the seraphim got a kick out of it so up the decorations went. Kratos smiled. Everyone was going to be there and when he said everyone, he meant everyone.

"It's odd to see you in such good spirits," Origin commented.

"Speak for yourself and your Santa hat while you're at it," Kratos retorted.

"Touché," Origin replied, "but do I even want to know what you've got up your sleeve?"

"You'll find out," Kratos replied, "All you have to do is man the camcorder but I will tell you that we're going to give Yuan a hand."

Slightly miffed about having to wait to find out what Kratos had planned, Origin wandered off. He had known the seraph for 4000 years and he knew one very important point about him. The man didn't let loose often but when he did, he went overboard. Of course, more people than usual were going to show up since Kratos made a point of saying everyone was going to be there but who was a total mystery to him. Perhaps those Renegades would be coming.

--

In the Remote Island Ranch, there were no decorations. They were preoccupied with other things.

"Today is the Cruxis Christmas Party. We're going to crash it," Yuan announced. He received blank stares.

"Isn't Cruxis in Derris Kharlan, up there where we can't go?" Kvar asked, pointing up at the sky.

"We can reach it through the Tower of Salvation. I can get you all in so that won't be a problem. Today, Cruxis is going down," Yuan replied smoothly.

"If Cruxis goes down, we can just smash Pronyma, right?" Magnius asked. After seeing several nods, he let out a cheer, swinging his axe around. The troops were gathered and both armies set off to the Tower of Salvation.

--

Kratos smiled, knowing that all the wheels had been set in motion. If the last 3950 parties had been any indicator, Mithos would start singing in about an hour. Hopefully the guests would arrive before then. Right now was his gingerbread cookie time.

"Kratos, want some cookies?" Mithos asked, showing off his platter of freshly baked cookies. Now, if the timing was right…

Crash!

Red warning lights blared. Derris Kharlan shook. Mithos dropped his platter of cookies. Mentally, Kratos pumped his fist. That was what Mithos got for threatening to use the eternal sword to spread tomatoes around the world. A soldier angel flew in.

"Lord Yggdrasil! Lord Kratos! The Renegade and Desian armies have penetrated the Tower of Salvation and have made their way here!"

Mithos' eye twitched.

"They. Ruined. My. Cookies."

Being somewhat intelligent, the angel didn't ask. A burning smell came across the room.

"Ack! I forgot to take out the next batch!" Mithos cried as he scrambled back to the kitchen.

--

There was Cruxis. There were the Desians invading Cruxis. There were the Renegades invading Cruxis. Then there was the Chosen's group, here to take out Mithos. Lloyd stared across Welgaia, expecting to see an army of angels waiting to attack them. Instead, bodies of Renegades, Desians, and angels were strewn everywhere. The walls were wet.

"Are those… balloons and streamers above the war zone? Cruxis is even more messed up than I thought," Zelos commented as he glanced at the ceiling.

"You should be thankful. There's fewer people for us to fight," Genis pointed out. Everyone agreed and kept on walking, trying to avoid stepping on the bodies. Coming through Welgaia and into Vinheim, they instantly saw a 60 foot tall Christmas tree looming in front of them. Dancing in front of it to Jingle Bells was Remiel.

"How is he even still alive?" Lloyd asked in an incredibly bored voice. The angel noticed them and stopped dancing.

"Intruders!" Remiel shouted as he pulled out his bow and arrow. Two Indignations, a Flame Lance, a Gravity Well, a Spark Wave, a Cyclone, a Bloody Lance, a Stalagmite, and a Holy Lance simultaneously connected with Remiel as the Renegade/Desian coalition walked in.

"That's so unfair…" Remiel complained. Yuan kicked him. Mithos danced in with his new platter of cookies.

"You came to party with us?" he asked. No one answered.

"Have a cookie!" Mithos said, stuffing a gingerbread cookie in Lloyd's mouth. No one really cared and Mithos was usurped in seconds, beaten into the ground. There was the sound of a bell. The now fallen leader of Cruxis began crawling back to the kitchen once more to take out the next batch. It was then that Colette remembered something.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Yuan," Colette said, pulling an all too familiar object out of her wing pack. It was the cape.

"You had my cape all along!" Yuan thundered. A random Renegade ran up to him, bearing the new list of anti-Chosen plans.

"Sir-"

"Forget it! We don't need a plan! Everyone, to arms! Kill the Chosen!" Yuan cried, swinging his double saber and chasing her all over Vinheim. Some humming was heard. It was Deck the Halls and the source was Kratos. Under his arm was a barrel of gasoline. Orifiel looked at the wall. It was wet.

"Deck the halls with gasoline! Falalalalalalalala… Light a match and watch it gleam! Falalalalalalalala… Watch as Cruxis burns to ashes! Falalalalalalala… Now aren't you glad you played with matches? Falalalalalalalala…"

Kratos dropped the match and Vinheim burst into flames. Origin watched in amusement.

--


	11. A new direction kind of

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

Note: Tales of Smash, this is not over. Originally, it was a oneshot and thus complete but some people requested that I continue it so I did. I suppose I just never changed the tag on the story. Rest assured, the chaos is not over.

--

Kratos and Yuan sat at a table in the Renegade base, drinking coffee, and discussing. Namely, Kratos had poked fun at Yuan for not having done this in the first place. Of course, it was all speculation as their forces nearly doubled with the aid of the four Desian Grand Cardinals that helped them and the massive number of troops that came with them. Had it not been for them it would have been questionable if they could have cut down Yggdrasil's army of angels the way they did during the Cruxis Christmas Party.

"Yeah, yeah. I know we should have done this ages ago but we've won now so we'll have to have a debriefing to break up the Renegades. We've been fighting Cruxis for so long. These people have a right to normal lives," Yuan said, staring off into oblivion.

"Its odd for you to sound so philosophical, Yuan," Kratos commented, "but do you really think they can all live normal lives. The world will just see them as Desians. Plus, the half elf discrimination is worse than ever." Yuan sighed. He knew Kratos was right on all counts. This was never a battle they could win, then walk out into the open as heroes. It never had been. The discrimination against half elves had existed for as long as they could remember. As both were over 4000 years old, that was saying something. In any case, it was already difficult enough for them to find a remotely hospitable place to live. If the Renegades and Desians disbanded, it would cause a massive increase in the half elf population all at once. Discrimination would increase even faster and in truth, they'd be better off as Renegades.

"You didn't think it through this far ahead, did you?" Kratos asked. Yuan growled. He hadn't thought about what to do after they had taken down Cruxis but it didn't mean that Kratos had to rub it in his face.

"Get out of here. I know you're here to get me to uphold my end of the bargain, not to help me figure out what to do from here," Yuan grumbled, shooing Kratos out of the room. With a smile on his face, the latter left to go hunting. Interestingly enough, he didn't really have to hunt. Kvar opened the door to see the famous piercing Aurion glare. Kratos cracked his knuckles. Kvar gulped and looked over at Yuan who waved them off.

"Don't mind me. This was just part of my hiring fee," Kratos said as he dragged Kvar out of the room.

"The torture chamber is down the hall to the left," Yuan called after them. Now that that was done with, he could get to his plans for how not to rip apart the delicate balance of society. He had to keep the Renegades together. They needed a new goal. Then it came to him.

--

Yuan stood in front of all the Renegades and Desians, making their debriefing speech.

"Cruxis has fallen. You have all done well. Now that Cruxis is gone, we must tear down the Chosen system. If the Church of Martel continues to carry out their traditions, nothing will change and more will continue to be sacrificed and the world will be thrown into chaos as no more angels will appear to guide them. So we will destroy the Church of Martel."

There. They had a goal now.

"In addition to this, we will kill the Chosens. That will break the Church of Martel down quickly," Yuan continued. A random soldier raised his hand. Yuan nodded at him.

"Sir, why do we have to kill the Chosen for this? Won't the Church of Martel fall easily anyway?" the soldier asked.

"We kill the Chosen because it will make tearing down the Church of Martel easier, because I don't like either of them, and because I said so. Are there any questions?"

No one said a word. Finally, one soldier pumped a fist.

"Kill the Chosen!" the soldier cried. Yuan pointed.

"You're promoted. See me in my office."

Soon the room was filled with roars of "Kill the Chosen!"

--

The chapter is done but the Renegades are not. The hunt continues.


	12. Indirect assault

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. Namco does.

--

Yuan sat in his chair, tapping his chin in thought. A whole week had gone by since he had announced that the Renegades were going to take out the Chosen… again. Now he was left with the puzzle of what to do. They obviously didn't want the Chosen to go on rampage mode again so if they did anything touchy, they'd have to get a disposable pawn to do it for them. A small stack of papers was dropped in front of him.

"Here is the next plan, awaiting your signature of approval," Orifiel said. Yuan smiled and signed without even bothering to read it. It felt good to not have to do all the work around here. Nodding, Orifiel moved to collect the pieces for his plan. It was fairly simple. All he'd need is to grab a few lackeys… but why bother with that? He hadn't done something himself since his anticlimactic beatdown of Genis a while back. Now to pinpoint where the Chosen was…

--

The next day, Orifiel strode down the streets of Meltokio to meet with Kratos. Of course, he had made sure that Lloyd, Colette, and Genis, the trio destined for trouble, were tailing him. Why anyone in their right mind would do that, one could only guess.

"Come on, guys… I'm sure he could sense us a mile off and I really don't want to get him mad…" Lloyd moaned.

"What are you scared of? You beat him at Origin's Seal. You're stronger than him. Plus, all he's got now is his old steel sword," Genis pointed out.

"But I want to see where Mr. Kratos is going," Colette piped up.

Kratos walked on, somewhat amused. Out of the three, Lloyd was the most intelligent… No. Scratch that. That statement seemed to defy possibility so badly that it was outside of Origin's reality bending powers. In the back of his head, Kratos could hear Origin laughing. Of course, there was no denial either. Shrugging off Origin's laughter, he took a seat at the nearest café and ordered a coffee. Now he just had to wait and the wait wouldn't be long either. He could see Orifiel approaching in the distance. The Renegade general quickly approached and took a seat.

"As usual, your timing is impeccable," Kratos praised. Orifiel just shrugged.

"Down to business, you called me here to discuss some plans, did you not?" Kratos asked as Orifiel ordered up some red wine for himself.

"Yes, yes I did. I'm sure you recall the puppy purge that occurred not too long ago…" Orifiel drawled, taking a small sip. A simple nod was given as reply.

"Since that is the case, Yuan would like to ask a favor of you. He wants you to take the puppies you rounded up to Derris Kharlan with you."

"Lazy Yuan. He can't cope with having to take care of something, can he?" Kratos muttered, listening for any reaction from the trio hiding in a nearby bush.

"Yay! The puppies are going to be astronauts!" Colette cheered. Kratos and Orifiel face faulted. How dense was this girl? They'd have to drill the point home in a really blunt manner so misunderstanding would be impossible.

"No. He really can't take care of things. At the same time, I'll say that I don't really see you as the type to do so either…" Orifiel started.

"Exactly right. I'm going up to Derris Kharlan to dispose of the exspheres, not to take care of pets," Kratos replied with an annoyed tone.

"But who will take care of the puppies, then? Maybe I should ask Remiel…" Colette pondered. Somewhere in Vinheim, Remiel gagged for unknown reasons.

"Yuan already had them transported there. What will you do with them?" Orifiel asked. Seriously, it was a pain getting the point across.

"First, I'll kill Yuan. Then I'll eject the puppies into space…" Kratos started.

"Yay! They'll be astronauts!" Colette cheered again.

"So they die," Kratos finished. Colette began to bawl. Geez. That was so difficult. Now onto phase two.

"Fair enough," Orifiel said, "but I'm surprised that the Pope actually offered to pay us 50 million gald for this."

"If you remember, the puppy purge increased attendance at church and offering by astounding amounts but to give the Church of Martel some credibility, he'll have to deal with the problem. Having an angel come down and remove the problem would likely do just that. As a testament to that, look at these numbers." Orifiel pointed out, pushing a sheet of paper across the table. Kratos glanced over it and handed it back.

"Another twenty percent increase is quite a feat," Kratos replied, "I don't think I have a choice in the matter anyway, do I?"

There was a massive clambering of feet and an explosion in the direction of the Church of Martel. Mission accomplished, Orifiel set down his now empty glass along with some gald and walked away.

--

In his office, the pope sifted through more suggestions. As usual, at noon, several lackeys burst in.

"Your Eminence, I found a way to kill the Chosens!"

As usual, the lackeys came bearing a large stack of fresh suggestions. However, this day was to be out of the ordinary.

"Judgment!"

The pope ran for it was half his office was blown to smithereens. The Chosen gave chase.

--

Yay! My normal computer is fixed and just pending reloading all the programs. Unfortunately, that also means that I have to get back to my Bleach stories that have been left alone for far too long and thus my update streak for this story may have to slow down for a while. Of course, it is still far from over.


	13. The start of a new system

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does.

--

Yuan sat at his desk, thoroughly satisfied with how things were going. Equality had been achieved. Total equality. Humans, elves, and half elves alike ran from the Chosen's rampage. Nowhere where there had been a Church of Martel was safe anymore. The key words there were had been. Through random wandering, Colette had destroyed every single church of Martel that had ever been made. When she destroyed them, she just flat out obliterated them… and everything a half mile around it with multiple Holy Judgments. Discrimination was only something that people not worried about survival cared for. A half elf would cast a spell to harry the Chosen's eye and then a human would pull the half elf to safety for saving other humans. Things worked like that.

"Sir, are you going to stop the Chosen before she destroys the rest of the world?" one of the Renegades asked, "She'll find us eventually. Both the main bases are gone."

Yuan tapped his chin in a thoughtful manner. The Church of Martel was crumbling. The government had already fallen apart. Orifiel walked into the room, bearing the old suggestion box and a couple cups of coffee. Taking one of the cups, Yuan took a long sip.

"Any good ones?" he asked. Orifiel shook his head. The only ones with any real chance of getting anywhere were a bit on the risky side. None of the others had really come up with anything good.

"Why can't we just send her somewhere where she can't get out?" Yuan asked.

"And what could we possibly have that could contain her for long?" Orifiel asked. There wasn't really anything short of using the Eternal Sword and sending her really far into the future to get rid of her. Then rinse and repeat.

Yuan looked down at his cup of coffee.

"What about the book that contains Nilfheim?"

Again, Orifiel shook his head.

"It would hold her a few days, maybe a week at most. We can only manipulate it enough to add five more floors. Even if we could a hundred, it would only last about a month. Then we'd have to manage to get her in there."

Yuan looked up from his coffee and stared Orifiel in the eye, a fiery, determined gaze, just like the kind he'd had back in the Kharlan War. One of the Renegades ran into the room.

"Sir, I found a way to stop the Chosen!"

Yuan held up a hand to silence him.

"There is no need. Come, Orifiel. We've shattered the old system and its time to begin something new. We're going to start YUANISM!"

--

Yes. I'm back. And I'm serious. There will only be a few more chapters at most, but I promise you, there will be a sequel.


	14. The birth of Yuanism

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does, but we all knew that, right? Otherwise, this wouldn't be a fanfic. Instead, it would have been built into a Renegade POV bonus reward side story for beating Abyssion on mania without items or something where you could of course play as Yuan, the renegades, and the grand cardinals, minus Pronyma of course.

And now, we shall close out, Sir, I found a way to kill the Chosen and await the sequel.

--

History was being made. Right now. It was the first worldwide broadcast in the history of Symphonia. In fact the next biggest one had been a mere city wide broadcast in Altimara when the amusement park had officially opened. Yuan stood at a podium in front of the ruins of the Church of Martel in Meltokio. The Renegades had several recorders pointed at him, broadcasting to big screen hologram projectors placed in every city in both worlds and wherever else he had felt deserved attention. Taking a deep breath, he began.

"People of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant, I am Yuan Kai-fei," he began, "and I am here to inform you that the Church of Martel is a giant scam."

Everyone went dead silent. Somewhere from his hiding spot in the Meltokio sewers, the Pope's jaw dropped as he stared blankly at the mini TV that the Renegades had lent him.

"It's a sick, demented system of control, set up by the one you call the "hero, Mithos," Yuan continued, "but that is over now as I set you free! Without that system, you will all have plenty of mana and all be prosperous again!"

Immediately, Yuan was pelted with a storm of questions from the crowd. Smiling, Yuan calmly answered them all one by one, even the rude ones as the rest of the Renegades and Desians looked on, shocked. Then again, most of them didn't understand just how content he was at the moment. Life was about to get good. He thought back to some of their… earlier tasks before coming here.

-- Flashback--

Yuan, Kratos, the Renegade generals, and the Desian grand cardinals, plus Sheena stood in front of Origin's seal. That had been oh so simple to achieve. Orifiel had bribed the summoner with a shower that wasn't an Aqua Edge from Genis. Less than a second to consider the offer had been needed.

"Origin, drag yourself out here!" Yuan yelled at the seal. After a few moments, the summon spirit materialized.

"Yes, Mithos' order was very much a scam, using a large amount of the mana available for his own personal gain," Origin replied in a solemn, rehearsed manner. He opted against commenting on Yuan's words of grandeur.

"What are you going to do about the Chosen?" Some random person in the crowd shot at Yuan who gazed back, unconcerned.

"I will dispose of that menace for all of you to see!" Yuan announced. He held out his hand and three items were brought to him. They were the book of Nilfheim, a dog, and a roll of duct tape.

"First, I shall demonstate my power to all of you!" Yuan announced. He motioned and a renegade came forward, standing the puppy up so it was on its hind legs. Running forward a couple steps, Yuan punted it into the sky. The crowd stared. A purple rune appeared on the ground at his feet.

"I decree judgment upon this corrupt soul! Feel the rage of the heavens! INDIGNATION STORM!" Yuan called out, pointing a hand at the sailing puppy. A massive burst of electricity came from his hand, finding the puppy. Then a rain of lightning bolts descended on what was left of the puppy, leaving a hole in the ground below about a 50 feet deep and a quarter mile in diameter. Within the minute, Colette came speeding into view, ready to get revenge.

"Who killed the puppy?!" came the loud screech. Everyone pointed at Yuan who calmly held out his hand. The roll of duct tape was placed in it. Colette's eyes dilated immediately.

"Give me Shiny!" Colette demanded. Yuan held out his hand again and the book of Nilfheim was placed in it. Without pause, he opened the book, tossing the roll of duct tape into the interdimensional portal. Collette immediately leapt through after it and Yuan slammed the book shut. After a short pause, someone looked up, and began to clap. Within seconds, the crowd was cheering wildly. All across both worlds, a resounding cry of agreement was heard. Holding his hand out, Yuan summoned Swallow.

"And now that that is done, I shall restore the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla to their original form, Aselia," Yuan announced. Swinging it, the blade shifted shape to become the bright purple Eternal Sword. He held it high above his head and the worlds rejoined. After a silence in awe of what had just been done, the crowd started cheering even louder.

"Free of Mithos' grip, I will now lead you all into a time of prosperity!" Yuan finished. Somewhere in the Meltokio sewers, the Pope bashed the T.V. with the nearest rock he could find. Kvar walked up to Yuan, intent on asking a question.

"Are you sure this will work? After all, the Chosen could get through Nilfheim. You saw what she's done recently," Kvar asked. A wide smile spread across Yuan's face.

"Using his magic and the technology at Derris Kharlan, Orifiel has added five more floors to the beginning of the book," Yuan explained. This, however, did not do much convincing.

"It doesn't matter. The Chosen will still break through even if you added a hundred floors."

"Oh yes it will," Yuan smiled, "All of those floors, are red and they're stuffed with puppies."

Yuan walked away from the podium, leaving Kvar gaping at the genius of it all. The age of Yuanism had begun.

--

Sir, I found a way to kill the Chosen is now complete. As I promised, there will be a sequel. Oh, and for those who don't know, a red floor in the Nilfheim dungeon means that you have to kill all of the enemies on the floor in order to make the exit appear so you can advance.


	15. Journey to the Sequel

Disclaimer: I don't own TOS. Namco does.

Sorry that this isn't much of a chapter. I know I've been gone a while and that I promised a sequel. Well, you shall have that sequel but I want to know what you want that sequel to be. We have 2 major options.

I can keep writing for an exclusive TOS 1 basis or I can flood over into TOS 2 and introduce those characters too. If I do TOS 1, we'll see more of Orifiel and so on. If we do TOS 2, most of the OCs will be relegated to really minor roles and we'll see more Alice/Decus working with the Renegades and the cardinals with Marta and Emil getting their share of the hate.

Anyway, it would be cruel for me to ask this and leave you without even a mini chapter so let's get on with it.

"So they sealed Colette in the book of Nilfheim," Raine said to herself. The remains of their group was sitting around a campfire, trying to stay away from the wrath of the Yuanists.

"That's about right. I don't know what they did, though. It's been a month already. She should have been able to get out of the book on her own by now," Regal commented, taking a sip of his coffee. Lloyd had been oddly silent through this past month too. There was a short silence which was quickly broken by the usual.

"Gaaaaaah!"

It was Zelos. He was always the whiniest of them when it came to the "Aqua Edge baths". No one found them pleasant but it did stand to reason that someone totally used to bathing in a hot tub every day of his life, sometimes multiple times a day, would take having to bathe in a cold Aqua Edge worse than the average. The rest were somewhat used to it. Presea was from Ozette where a hot bath cost precious firewood. Raine and Genis weren't exactly rich so no hot water for them unless it was for cooking. Lloyd lived with Dirk and they weren't filthy rich either. Regal might have been an exception but he rarely complained anyway.

"Air Thrust!"

Zelos wobbled back to camp and plopped himself down in front of the fire. His hair was a total mess but at least now he was somewhat dry.

"This is torture!" he whined, "I only have two hunnies left!"

Sadly enough, it was true. They were pretty much banned from all the major cities. Colette was sealed in the Book of Nilfheim and Sheena had long since been hired by Yuan to make the pact with Origin in trade for a shower, a badly needed shower.

"Well, if Colette isn't going to get out of the book on her own, we need to go find that book and break her out ourselves… wherever that is," Genis threw out there. To be honest, they couldn't really have tried earlier. Cut off from general civilization, they'd only found out yesterday even though it had happened a month ago.

"Wait! If Colette is trapped in the book, then we need to go after her!"

That would be Lloyd.

"That would be ideal but we have no idea where Yuan is keeping the book," Raine eased him.

"We're not going to find it by just standing around here!" Lloyd announced.

"Is he really that thick?" Zelos asked no one in particular. They'd all heard about it this morning and had had a discussion about what to do which had lingered on throughout the day. Even for Lloyd, not realizing what had happened was odd.

"Zelos, you do know that they already put that in textbooks, right? History goes in one of Lloyd's ears and out the other," Genis shrugged, remembering instances of Lloyd not even knowing what the opposing summon spirits were and so on. His breadth of history was simply shameful. Even when they went around the world and even when he saw the summon spirits on a daily basis, he never seemed to be able to get it right.

"Oh, right. That explains everything."


End file.
